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Its Votaries and Victims
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THE GAMING TABLE:
ITS VOTARIES AND VICTIMS,
In all Times and Countries, especially in England
and in France.
BY
ANDREW STEINMETZ, ESQ.,
OF THE MIDDLE TEMPLE, BARRISTER-AT-LAW;
FIRST-CLASS EXTRA CERTIFICATE SCHOOL OF MUSKETRY, HYTHE;
LATE OFFICER INSTRUCTOR MUSKETRY, THE QUEENS OWN LIGHT INFANTRY MILITIA.
AUTHOR OF `THE HISTORY OF THE JESUITS,' `JAPAN AND HER PEOPLE,'
`THE ROMANCE OF DUELLING,' &c., &c.
`The sharp, the blackleg, and the knowing one,
Livery or lace, the self-same circle, run;
The same the passion, end and means the same--
Dick and his Lordship differ but in name.'
IN TWO VOLUMES.--VOL. I.
TO HIS GRACE
The Duke of Wellington, K.G.
THIS WORK IS DEDICATED,
WITH PERMISSION,
BY HIS GRACE'S MOST DEVOTED SERVANT
THE AUTHOR.
PREFACE.
To the readers of the present generation much of this book will,
doubtless, seem incredible. Still it is a book of facts--a
section of our social history, which is, I think, worth writing,
and deserving of meditation.
Forty or fifty years ago--that is, within the memory of many a
living man--gambling was `the rage' in England, especially in the
metropolis. Streets now meaningless and dull--such as Osendon
Street, and streets and squares now inhabited by the most
respectable in the land--for instance, St James's Square, THEN
opened doors to countless votaries of the fickle and capricious
goddess of Fortune; in the rooms of which many a nobleman, many a
gentleman, many an officer of the Army and Navy, clergymen,
tradesmen, clerks, and apprentices, were `cleaned out'--ruined,
and driven to self-murder, or to crimes that led to the gallows.
`I have myself,' says a writer of the time, `seen hanging in
chains a man whom a short time before I saw at a Hazard table!'
History, as it is commonly written, does not sufficiently take
cognizance of the social pursuits and practices that sap the
vitality of a nation; and yet these are the leading influences in
its destiny--making it what it is and will be, at least through
many generations, by example and the inexorable laws that preside
over what is called `hereditary transmission.'
Have not the gambling propensities of our forefathers
influenced the present generation? . . . .
No doubt gambling, in the sense treated of in this book, has
ceased in England. If there be here and there a Roulette or
Rouge et Noir table in operation, its existence is now known
only to a few `sworn-brethren;' if gambling at cards `prevails'
in certain quarters, it is `kept quiet.' The vice is not
barefaced. It slinks and skulks away into corners and holes,
like a poisoned rat. Therefore, public morality has triumphed,
or, to use the card-phrase, `trumped' over this dreadful abuse;
and the law has done its duty, or has reason to expect
congratulation for its success, in `putting down' gaming houses.
But we gamble still. The gambling on the Turf (now the most
uncertain of all `games of chance') was, lately, something that
rang through and startled the entire nation. We gamble in the
funds. We gamble in endless companies (limited)--all resulting
from the same passion of our nature, which led to the gambling of
former times with cards, with dice, at Piquet, Basset, Faro,
Hazard, E O, _Roulette_, and _Rouge et Noir_. At a recent
memorable trial, the Lord Chief Justice of England exclaimed--
`There can be no doubt--any one who looks around him cannot fail
to perceive--that a spirit of speculation and gambling has taken
hold of the minds of large classes of the population. Men who
were wont to be satisfied with moderate gain and safe investments
seem now to be animated by a spirit of greed after gain, which
makes them ready to embark their fortunes, however hardly gained,
in the vain hope of realizing immense returns by premiums upon
shares, and of making more than safe and reasonable gains. We
see that continually.' In fact, we may not be a jot better
morally than our forefathers. But that is no reason why we
should not frown over the story of their horrid sins, and,
`having a good conscience,' think what sad dogs they were in
their generation--knowing, as we do, that none of us at the
present day lose _FIFTY OR A HUNDRED THOUSAND POUNDS_ at play,
at a sitting, in one single night--as was certainly no very
uncommon `event' in those palmy days of gaming; and that we could
not--as was done in 1820--produce a list of _FIVE HUNDRED_ names
(in London alone) of noblemen, gentlemen, officers of the Army
and Navy, and clergymen, who were veteran or indefatigable
gamesters, besides `clerks, grocers, horse-dealers, linen-
drapers, silk-mercers, masons, builders, timber-merchants,
booksellers, &c., &c., and men of the very lowest walks of life,'
who frequented the numerous gaming houses throughout the
metropolis--to their ruin and that of their families more or less
(as deploringly lamented by Captain Gronow), and not a few of
them, no doubt, finding themselves in that position in which they
could exclaim, at _OUR_ remonstrance, as feelingly as did King
Richard--
`Slave! I have set my life upon a _CAST_,
And I will stand the _HAZARD OF THE DIE!_'
Nor is gaming as yet extinct among us. Every now and then a
batch of youngsters is brought before the magistrates charged
with vulgar `tossing' in the streets; and every now and then we
hear of some victim of genteel gambling, as recently--in the
month of February, 1868--when `a young member of the aristocracy
lost L10,000 at Whist.'
Nay, at the commencement of the present year there appeared in a
daily paper the following startling announcement to the editor:--
`Sir,--Allow me, through the columns of your paper, to call the
attention of the parents and friends of the young officers in the
Channel-fleet to the great extent gambling is carried on at
Lisbon. Since the fleet has been there another gambling house
has been opened, and is filled every evening with young officers,
many of whom are under 18 years of age. On the 1st of January it
is computed that upwards of L800 was lost by officers of the
fleet in the gambling houses, and if the fleet is to stay there
three months there will soon be a great number of the officers
involved in debt. I will relate one incident that came under my
personal notice. A young midshipman, who had lately joined the
Channel fleet from the Bristol, drew a half-year's pay in
December, besides his quarterly allowance, and I met him on shore
the next evening without money enough to pay a boat to go off to
his ship, having lost all at a gambling house.
Hoping that this may be of some use in stopping the gambling
among the younger officers, I remain, yours respectfully,
AN OFFICER.'[1]
[1] Standard, Jan. 12, 1870.
In conclusion, I have contemplated the passion of gaming in all
its bearings, as will be evident from the range of subjects
indicated by the table of contents and index. I have ransacked
(and sacked) hundreds of volumes for entertaining, amusing,
curious, or instructive matter.
Without deprecating criticism on my labours, perhaps I may state
that these researches have probably terminated my career as an
author. Immediately after the completion of this work I was
afflicted with a degree of blindness rendering it impossible for
me to read any print whatever, and compelling me to write only by
dictation.
ANDREW STEINMETZ.
CONTENTS OF VOL. I.
CHAP.
I
THE UNIVERSAL PASSION OF GAMING; OR, GAMING ALL THE WORLD OVER
II
GAMBLING AMONG THE ANCIENT HINDOOS--
A HINDOO LEGEND AND ITS MODERN PARALLEL
III
GAMBLING AMONG THE ANCIENT EGYPTIANS, PERSIANS AND GREEKS
IV
GAMING AMONG THE ANCIENT ROMAN EMPERORS
V
GAMBLING IN FRANCE IN ALL TIMES
VI
THE RISE AND PROGRESS OF MODERN GAMING IN ENGLAND
VII
GAMBLING IN BRIGHTON IN 1817
VIII
GAMBLING AT THE GERMAN BATHING-PLACES
IX
GAMBLING IN THE UNITED STATES
X
LADY GAMESTRESSES
XI
GAMBLING POETS, SAVANTS, PHILOSOPHERS, WITS, AND STATESMEN
XII
REMARKABLE GAMESTERS
XIII
THE LOTTERIES AND THEIR BEWILDERMENTS
XIV THE LAWS AGAINST GAMING IN VARIOUS COUNTRIES
THE GAMING TABLE.
CHAPTER I.
THE UNIVERSAL PASSION OF GAMING; OR, GAMING ALL THE WORLD OVER.
A very apt allegory has been imagined as the origin of Gaming.
It is said that the Goddess of Fortune, once sporting near the
shady pool of Olympus, was met by the gay and captivating God of
War, who soon allured her to his arms. They were united; but the
matrimony was not holy, and the result of the union was a
misfeatured child named Gaming. From the moment of her birth
this wayward thing could only be pleased by cards, dice, or
counters.
She was not without fascinations, and many were her admirers. As
she grew up she was courted by all the gay and extravagant of
both sexes, for she was of neither sex, and yet combining the
attractions of each. At length, however, being mostly beset by
men of the sword, she formed an unnatural union with one of them,
and gave birth to twins--one called DUELLING, and the other a
grim and hideous monster named SUICIDE. These became their
mother's darlings, nursed by her with constant care and
tenderness, and her perpetual companions.
The Goddess Fortune ever had an eye on her promising daughter--
Gaming; and endowed her with splendid residences, in the most
conspicuous streets, near the palaces of kings. They were
magnificently designed and elegantly furnished. Lamps, always
burning at the portals, were a sign and a perpetual invitation
unto all to enter; and, like the gates of the Inferno, they were
ever open to daily and nightly visitants; but, unlike the latter,
they permitted _EXIT_ to all who entered--some exulting with
golden spoil,--others with their hands in empty pockets,--some
led by her half-witted son Duelling,--others escorted by her
malignant monster Suicide, and his mate, the demon Despair.
`Religion, morals, virtue, all give way,
And conscience dies, the prostitute of play.
Eternity ne'er steals one thought between,
Till suicide completes the fatal scene.'
Such is the _ALLEGORY_;[2] and it may serve well enough to
represent the thing in accordance with the usages of civilized or
modern life; but Gaming is a _UNIVERSAL_ thing--the
characteristic of the human biped all the world over.
[2] It appeared originally, I think, in the Harleian
Miscellany. I have taken the liberty to re-touch it here and
there, with the view to improvement.
The determination of events by `lot' was a practice frequently
resorted to by the Israelites; as, by lot it was determined which
of the goats should be offered by Aaron; by lot the land of
Canaan was divided; by lot Saul was marked out for the Hebrew
kingdom; by lot Jonah was discovered to be the cause of the
storm. It was considered an appeal to Heaven to determine the
points, and was thought not to depend on blind chance, or that
imaginary being called Fortune, who,
`----With malicious joy,
Promotes, degrades, delights in strife,
And makes a _LOTTERY_ of life.'
The Hindoo Code--a promulgation of very high antiquity--
denounces gambling, which proves that there were desperate
gamesters among the Hindoos in the earliest times. Men gamed,
too, it would appear, after the example set them by the gods, who
had gamesters among them. The priests of Egypt assured Herodotus
that one of their kings visited alive the lower regions called
infernal, and that he there joined a gaming party, at which he
both lost and won.[3] Plutarch tells a pretty Egyptian story to
the effect, that Mercury having fallen in love with Rhea, or the
Earth, and wishing to do her a favour, gambled with the Moon, and
won from her every seventieth part of the time she illumined the
horizon--all which parts he united together, making up _FIVE
DAYS_, and added them to the Earth's year, which had previously
consisted of only 360 days.[4]
[3] Herod. 1. ii.
[4] Plutarch, _De Isid. et Osirid._
But not only did the gods play among themselves on Olympus, but
they gambled with mortals. According to Plutarch, the priest of
the temple of Hercules amused himself with playing at dice with
the god, the stake or conditions being that if he won he should
obtain some signal favour, but if he lost he would procure a
beautiful courtesan for Hercules.[5]
[5] _In Vita Romuli_.
By the numerous nations of the East dice, and that pugnacious
little bird the cock, have been and are the chief instruments
employed to produce a sensation--to agitate their minds and to
ruin their fortunes. The Chinese have in all times, we suppose,
had cards--hence the absurdity of the notion that they were
`invented' for the amusement of Charles VI. of France, in his
`lucid intervals,' as is constantly asserted in every collection
of historic facts. The Chinese invented cards, as they invented
almost everything else that administers to our social and
domestic comfort.[6]
[6] Observations on Cards, by Mr Gough, in Archaeologia, vol.
viii. 1787.
The Asiatic gambler is desperate. When all other property is
played away, he scruples not to stake his wife, his child, on the
cast of a die or on the courage of the martial bird before
mentioned. Nay more, if still unsuccessful, the last venture he
makes is that of his limbs--his personal liberty--his life--which
he hazards on the caprice of chance, and agrees to be at the
mercy, or to become the slave, of his fortunate antagonist.
The Malayan, however, does not always tamely submit to this last
stroke of fortune. When reduced to a state of desperation by
repeated ill-luck, he loosens a certain lock of hair on his head,
which, when flowing down, is a sign of war and destruction. He
swallows opium or some intoxicating liquor, till he works himself
up into a fit of frenzy, and begins to bite and kill everything
that comes in his way; whereupon, as the aforesaid lock of hair
is seen flowing, it is lawful to fire at and destroy him as
quickly as possible--he being considered no better than a mad
dog. A very rational conclusion.
Of course the Chinese are most eager gamesters, or they would not
have been capable of inventing those dear, precious killers of
time--cards, the EVENING solace of so many a household in the
most respectable and `proper' walks of life. Indeed, they play
night and day--until they have lost all they are worth, and then
they usually go--and hang themselves.
If we turn our course northward, and penetrate the regions of ice
perpetual, we find that the driven snow cannot effectually quench
the flames of gambling. They glow amid the regions of the
frozen pole. The Greenlanders gamble with a board, which has a
finger-piece upon it, turning round on an axle; and the person to
whom the finger points on the stopping of the board, which is
whirled round, `sweeps' all the `stakes' that have been
deposited.
If we descend thence into the Western hemisphere, we find that
the passion for gambling forms a distinguishing feature in the
character of all the rude natives of the American continent.
Just as in the East, these savages will lose their aims (on which
subsistence depends), their apparel, and at length their personal
liberty, on games of chance. There is one thing, however, which
must be recorded to their credit--and to our shame. When they
have lost their `all,' they do not follow the example of our
refined gamesters. They neither murmur nor repine. Not a
fretful word escapes them. They bear the frowns of fortune with
a philosophic composure.[7]
[7] Carver, _Travels_.
If we cross the Atlantic and land on the African shore, we find
that the `everlasting Negro' is a gambler--using shells as dice--
and following the practice of his `betters' in every way. He
stakes not only his `fortune,' but also his children and liberty,
which he cares very little about, everywhere, until we incite him
to do so--as, of course, we ought to do, for every motive `human
and divine.'
There is no doubt, then, that this propensity is part and parcel
of `the unsophisticated savage.' Let us turn to the eminently
civilized races of antiquity--the men whose example we have more
or less followed in every possible matter, sociality, politics,
religion--they were all gamblers, more or less. Take the grand
prototypes of Britons, the Romans of old. That gamesters they
were! And how gambling recruited the ranks of the desperadoes
who gave them insurrectionary trouble! Catiline's `army of
scoundrels,' for instance. `Every man dishonoured by
dissipation,' says Sallust, `who by his follies or losses at the
gaming table had consumed the inheritance of his fathers, and all
those who were sufferers by such misery, were the friends of this
perverse man.' Horace, Juvenal, Persius, Cicero, and other
writers, attest the fact of Roman gambling most eloquently, most
indignantly.
The Romans had `lotteries,' or games of chance, and some of
their prizes were of great value, as a good estate and slaves, or
rich vases; others of little value, as vases of common earth, but
of this more in the sequel.
Among the Gothic kings who, in the fulness of time and
accomplishments, `succeeded' to that empire, we read of a
Theodoric, `a wise and valiant prince,' who was `great lover of
dice;' his solicitude in play was only for victory; and his
companions knew how to seize the moment of his success, as
consummate courtiers, to put forward their petitions and to make
their requests. `When I have a petition to prefer,' says one of
them, `I am easily beaten in the game that I may win my
cause.'[8] What a clever contrivance! But scarcely equal to
that of the _GREAT_ (in politeness) Lord Chesterfield, who, to
gain a vote for a parliamentary friend, actually submitted to be
_BLED!_ It appears that the voter was deemed very difficult, but
Chesterfield found out that the man was a doctor, who was a
perfect Sangrado, recommending bleeding for every ailment. He
went to him, as in consultation, agreed with the man's arguments,
and at once bared his arm for the operation. On the point of
departure his lordship `edged' in the question about the vote for
his friend, which was, of course, gushingly promised and given.
[8] Sed ego aliquid obsecraturus facile vincor; et mihi tabula
perit ut causa salvetur.--Sidonius Apollinaris, _Epist_.
Although there may not be much Gothic blood among us, it is quite
certain that there is plenty of German mixture in our nation--
taking the term in its very wide and comprehensive ethnology.
Now, Tacitus describes the ancient stout and valiant Germans as
`making gaming with a die a very serious occupation of their
sober hours.' Like the `everlasting Negro,' they, too, made
their last throw for personal liberty, the loser going into
voluntary slavery, and the winner selling such slaves as soon as
possible to strangers, in order not to have to blush for such a
victory! If the `nigger' could blush, he might certainly do so
for the white man in such a conjuncture.
At Naples and other places in Italy, at least in former times,
the boatmen used thus to stake their liberty for a certain number
of years. According to Hyde,[9] the Indians stake their fingers
and cut them off themselves to pay the debt of honour.
Englishmen have cut off their ears, both as a `security' for
a gambling loan, and as a stake; others have staked their lives
by hanging, in like manner! Instances will be given in the
sequel.
[9] De Ludis Orient.
But leaving these savages and the semi-savages of the very olden
time, let us turn to those nearer to our times, with just as much
religious truth and principle among them as among ourselves.
The warmth with which `dice-playing' is condemned in the writings
of the _Fathers_, the venerable expounders of Christianity, as
well as by `edicts' and `canons' of the Church, is unquestionably
a sufficient proof of its general and excessive prevalence
throughout the nations of Europe. When cards were introduced, in
the fourteenth century, they only added fuel to the infernal
flame of gambling; and it soon became as necessary to restrain
their use as it had been that of dice. The two held a joint
empire of ruin and desolation over their devoted victims. A king
of France set the ruinous example--Henry IV., the roue, the
libertine, the duellist, the gambler,--and yet (historically) the
_Bon Henri_, the `good king,' who wished to order things so that
every Frenchman might have a _pot-au-feu_, or dish of flesh
savoury, every Sunday for dinner. The money that Henry IV. lost
at play would have covered great public expenses.
There can be no doubt that the spirit of gaming went on acquiring
new strength and development throughout every subsequent reign in
France; and we shall see that under the Empire the thing was a
great national institution, and made to put a great deal of money
as `revenue' into the hands of Fouche.
But the Spaniards have always been, of all nations, the most
addicted to gambling. A traveller says:--`I have wandered
through all parts of Spain, and though in many places I have
scarcely been able to procure a glass of wine, or a bit of bread,
or any of the first conveniences of life, yet I never went
through a village so mean and out of the way, in which I could
not have purchased a pack of cards.' This was in the middle of
the seventeenth century, but I have no doubt it is true at the
present moment.
If we can believe Voltaire, the Spaniards were formerly very
generous in their gaming. `The grandees of Spain,' he says, `had
a generous ostentation; this was to divide the money won at
play among all the bystanders, of whatever condition.
Montrefor relates that when the Duke of Lerma, the Spanish
minister, entertained Gaston, brother of Louis XIII., with all
his retinue in the Netherlands, he displayed a magnificence of an
extraordinary kind. The prime minister, with whom Gaston spent
several days, used to put two thousand louis d'ors on a large
gaming-table after dinner. With this money Gaston's attendants
and even the prince himself sat down to play. It is probable,
however, that Voltaire extended a single instance or two into a
general habit or custom. That writer always preferred to deal
with the splendid and the marvellous rather than with plain
matter of fact.
There can be little doubt that the Spaniards pursued gaming in
the vulgar fashion, just as other people. At any rate the
following anecdote gives us no very favourable idea of Spanish
generosity to strangers in the matter of gambling in modern
times; and the worst of it is the suitableness of its application
to more capitals than one among the kingdoms of Europe. `After
the bull-feast I was invited to pass the evening at the hotel of
a lady, who had a public card-assembly. . . . This vile
method of subsisting on the folly of mankind is confined in Spain
to the nobility. None but women of quality are permitted to hold
banks, and there are many whose faro-banks bring them in a clear
income of a thousand guineas a year. The lady to whom I was
introduced is an old countess, who has lived nearly thirty years
on the profits of the card-tables in her house. They are
frequented every day, and though both natives and foreigners are
duped of large sums by her, and her cabinet-junto, yet it is the
greatest house of resort in all Madrid. She goes to court,
visits people of the first fashion, and is received with as much
respect and veneration as if she exercised the most sacred
functions of a divine profession. Many widows of great men keep
gaming-houses and live splendidly on the vices of mankind. If
you be not disposed to play, be either a sharper or a dupe, you
cannot be admitted a second time to their assemblies. I was no
sooner presented to the lady than she offered me cards; and on my
excusing myself, because I really could not play, she made a very
wry face, turned from me, and said to another lady in my hearing,
that she wondered how any foreigner could have the
impertinence to come to her house for no other purpose than to
make an apology for not playing. My Spanish conductor,
unfortunately for himself, had not the same apology. He played
and lost his money--two circumstances which constantly follow in
these houses. While my friend was thus playing _THE FOOL_, I
attentively watched the countenance and motions of the lady of
the house. Her anxiety, address, and assiduity were equal to
that of some skilful shopkeeper, who has a certain attraction to
engage all to buy, and diligence to take care that none shall
escape the net. I found out all her privy-counsellors, by her
arrangement of her parties at the different tables; and whenever
she showed an extraordinary eagerness to fix one particular
person with a stranger, the game was always decided the same way,
and her good friend was sure to win the money.
`In short, it is hardly possible to see good company at Madrid
unless you resolve to leave a purse of gold at the card-
assemblies of their nobility.'[10]
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